Loading ship with salt at the mine

[Robert Watcher]

Goderich Harbour. Ship being filled with salt.

Second pic captures the arm moving as it distributes the salt across the container.

The final pic is the ship leaving the harbour to enter Lake Huron and continue its sojourn through the Great Lakes.

Very chilly and stark night.

 

[Asher Kelman]

Why work at night? Is this a 24 hour operation?

Asher

 

[Robert Watcher]

Why work at night? Is this a 24 hour operation?

Asher

yes I believe so.

 

[Robert Watcher]

This is an interesting map I found that displays the ship passageways through the Great Lakes - which this ship will be using . Zoom out to see them all. The Great Lakes contain the largest fresh water lake in North America, second largest in the world, the largest fresh water island in the world. Canada has the most lakes in the world.

just some tidbits, for those that know little about Canada.

Goderich Port Management Corp.

goderichport.ca

——-

 

[Maggie Terlecki]

looks so cold and dreary! But I guess they have no choice. I'm Canadian so I know we have the most fresh water in the world! Yay!

 

[Doug Kerr]

Hi, Robert,

This is an interesting map I found that displays the ship passageways through the Great Lakes - which this ship will be using .

What sail on the Great Lakes are "boats" (regardless of size).

Best regards,

Doug

 

[Asher Kelman]

Hi, Robert,


What sail on the Great Lakes are "boats" (regardless of size).

Best regards,

Doug

OMG, if the lake is a an inland sea, then the boat is a ship!

A boat is generally a smaller water craft while a ship can handle the high seas and oceans, but it’s also more nuanced even than that!

If it’s massive, built for rough seas and heavy cargoe and needs special navigation gear and a a giant motor it can be a ship. So the Canadian vessels hauling salt might easily demand the nautical architecture and advanced engineering for dangerous water conditions. In any case, local language use has to be respected!

“Technically speaking, a mode of water transport that weighs at least 500 tonnes or above is categorised as a ship.”

Asher

 

[Asher Kelman]

In fact, Doug, the Black Sea is another massive fresh water inland body of water akin to the Great Lakes.

We admit that “In the Age of Sail a "ship" was a sailing vessel defined by its sail plan of at least three square riged masts and a full bowsprit” (Wikipedia on Ships)

Nevertheless here is a definite ship and it’s only in fresh water:

Container ship, Reecon Whale, on the Black Sea near Constanța, Romania.

 

[Asher Kelman]

Besides, many ocean going ships, or “Salties” ply the Great Lakes and the St Lawrence Seaway System.

Here is a “Foreign Ship Data & Photo Gallery” for 2020!

 

[Robert Watcher]

Hi, Robert,


What sail on the Great Lakes are "boats" (regardless of size).

Best regards,

Doug

We commonly call these Lakers or Cargo Ships or Ships —- not often boats. But you are not wrong in your designation as boats.

As supported here - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_freighter


The waters of the Great Lakes can be very nasty, and have resulted in many shipwrecks (that is what they are called). One famously written about in song by Gordon Lightfoot - was the “Edmund_Fitzgerald”. There is(was before pandemic anyway) a huge industry in scuba diving and exploring these.

List of shipwrecks in the Great Lakes - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Jerome Marot]

In fact, Doug, the Black Sea is another massive fresh water inland body of water akin to the Great Lakes.

You may be confusing with another body of water, but I cannot imagine which one. The black sea is salted water and open to the Mediterranean sea, which has a salt content roughly double of the Atlantic. The Caspian sea is closed, but also salted. Lake Baikal is freshwater.

 

[Asher Kelman]

You may be confusing with another body of water, but I cannot imagine which one. The black sea is salted water and open to the Mediterranean sea, which has a salt content roughly double of the Atlantic. The Caspian sea is closed, but also salted. Lake Baikal is freshwater.

Jérôme,

It’s rather unlikely you are not correct in fact checking. It’s more feasible that I misread a reference.

But I understood that the Volga drains into it and it was essentially an inland lake. In the morning, I will endeavor to retrace my steps!

Asher

 

[Jerome Marot]

The Volga drains into the Caspian sea, which has a salinity of approximately 1.2%, about a third that of average seawater.

 

[Asher Kelman]

The Black Sea has most interesting layering of water: uppercfull of life, oxygenated, the lower is anoxic and shipwrecks survive centuries!

 

[Doug Kerr]

Hi, Robert,

The waters of the Great Lakes can be very nasty, and have resulted in many shipwrecks (that is what they are called). One famously written about in song by Gordon Lightfoot - was the “Edmund_Fitzgerald”.

Yes, the case of the Edmund Fitzgerald is well known.

Thanks for all the info.

Best regards,

Doug